Lawn Mower Problems

So, I beat the crap out of my riding lawn mower for not working. I thrashed it pretty good. It was stuck with the blades half engaged and would not start. First off, I lifted the mower up, on one side and let it drop a few times, that didn't work, then I tried ramming the lever back and fourth like a thousand times a second, that didn't work. I laid on my side and started grabbing at stuff underneath, pulling and twisting and more thrashing. Lying on the ground winded, I laid my head on the mower deck and tried to re-gain some control, I laid there for a couple of minutes, then remembered my smaller push mower. Not the one without the engine, that one is for assholes. So I gassed up the little bugger and that kept conking out, after cleaning the air filter it started to purr. By this time though, I was fully enraged, mowing more robot-like than human. The turning point in my mood was, while mowing a small field of daisies, the song "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" started playing in my head. The combination of mowing down actual flowers while that song was playing was pure joy.

Happy Birthday, Audie Murphy

I just finished watching "To Hell and Back", amazing story. Yesterday was his birthday.
One of the most decorated American combat soldiers in history. He enlisted in the US Army at age 17 for service in World War II. Received battlefield promotions while capturing more medals than any other US soldier, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. Following the war, he turned to acting in movies, starring in the story of his life , "To Hell And Back."
He died in an airplane crash in Virginia while on a business trip and was interred in Section 46 at Arlington, a site overlooking the Tomb of the Unknowns.


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MURPHY, AUDIE L.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company B 1 5th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Holtzwihr France, 26 January 1945. Entered service at: Dallas, Texas. Birth: Hunt County, near Kingston, Texas. G.O. No.. 65, 9 August 1945.

Citation:

2d Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by 6 tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, 1 of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machinegun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from 3 sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.

Life Drawing Class

Today was day one, of a two day life drawing class that Vicki got me for my birthday. So here is how it went. I show up thinking I'm going to be drawing nude women all day, only to find out that the first model is a man. "A man?" "Did he just say we will be using a MALE model?" All of a sudden I felt like a herd of elephants were charging full speed at me. "What do I do now?" My left eye started to twitch. How will I act? Will I flee? Will I lunge at him? Will he catch me staring at his package? I snapped out of it and realized I was slowly twirling around in circles, staring at the ceiling. The teacher was watching me out of the corner of his eye. I needed to calm down, I am an adult after all. So I managed to get a grip, other than a few nervous giggles that burst from me with no warning, things went well. I managed to draw a couple of dozen drawings of the model, none of them sporting a penis, of course.

Thor

Brendan (The Kid) and I did some high roof work today, changing out some rotted chimney caps. There were some long drops off the back side of the two chimneys we were working on. So, as the safety czar of the company, I immediately set up a network of safety lines and harnesses. After that we set the stupid safety crap aside. You're only as safe as you feel. Things got pretty manly up there, with all the smashing, cutting, swearing, breaking things we needed, bleeding and dropping stuff. I have to say, The Kid held his own, following my lead and discarding the safety belt. You're not really working if there is no chance of dying, so what's the point. Although, at one point, I almost pooped my pants when the wind picked up while I was carrying the new chimney cap across a particularly steep section.

Another Sunday Night

Lots of stuff went down this weekend. I took the day off of work on Friday to take the twins from the Shining to the dentist. That went as expected, I will cut my own head off before I do that again. Back on track Saturday morning. Me and my six year old twins got the yard sale bug. We get all jacked up on coffee and cruise the streets looking for yard sales. It's a lot more manly than it sounds. We scored some old shit stained stuffed animals, a chipped daffy duck coffee mug(for me), lets see, a few guitar picks, some very old and politically incorrect Disney books, a naked headless Ken doll(I guess it's Ken)and a Teletubbies book. OK, that killed most of the morning. I also spent some time working on the solar hot water heater, which will probably level the neighborhood when I fire it up. Later on in the day I found out Tim Russert had died. He was a great man. Brother Tom came by and we put the solar panel on the roof. What else. Oh, Vicki kicked my pet tortoise out of the bedroom, the bitch. I've had him for over twenty years. He's down in the basement with the gargantuan. While rearranging the bedroom furniture I found my Johnny Cash doll. Vicki must have put it there years ago. I snatched it off the floor and held it up to Vicki's face and screamed(way too loud)"In your face!". I don't even know why. So, we're not speaking.

Sad News for America

Tim Russert, one of our greatest journalists has died. I was a big fan, his book, Wisdom of Our Fathers, is one of my favorites. He was probably the only unbiased person in all of Washington. He took no prisoners, no matter which side of the isle you were on. He can not be replaced. A great loss. This is a big blow, to the head, for the D.O.M. Rest in Peace, Russ.

Solar Water Heater

I picked up the storage tank for the solar hot water heater I'm installing. Today after work I started piping the tank, also I got the pipes roughed into the attic(sucked hard). I'm taking my twin girls to the dentist tomorrow so that should be fun. Nothing like punching a dentist in the face for making my little sweeties cry.

"Hey Tony"

I just finished a bowl of chocolate pudding and whipped cream and in my usual fashion, I left my bowl wherever I was when I finished. Vicki said, hey Tony, is that where your bowl goes. Tony is my late father's name and that brought back a fond memory. It was a family dinner at my sister's house. After dinner, desert was served and every one helped themselves to some desert. Pies, cookies cakes, lots of goodies. The only one not enjoying the delicious bounty was my Dad. Everyone else was devouring their desert and he was sitting quietly, with his hands folded, not saying a word. He was waiting patiently for my Mom to cut him a piece of pie. THE PIE WAS TOUCHING HIS PLATE! It has nothing to do with laziness, I don't think he knew he had the power to get his own pie. It was an amazing sight to see. No exageration, if he unfolded his hands he would have touched the pie, but no, he just sat there like a mental patient. And you know what, he got his pie. It was almost zen-like to watch his mastery. This also brings back another memory. It was a my cousin Paul's wedding. We were all sitting at a table, nice conversation, nothing out of the ordinary was being said. All of a sudden my Dad gets up and just walks across the dance floor and out the door. Never said a word, never looked back. What was amazing, and full of unspoken poetry, was the way he was walking. His gait said,"no need to give me a second look, there is no way I'm leaving". Kind of how a Jedi would do it. I gave Vicki a nudge and pointed to my Dad strutting across the dance floor, I said to her "you know he's leaving don't you", she said something like "of course not, that's crazy, he never said goodbye". I looked at him making the corner and said "so long you magnificent bastard". Ironicly the last time I saw him alive, the scene was almost the same.

1920s Tenor Banjo

I bought this at a barn sale for $25. All it needs is a little TLC.